600 hp Hyundai Elantra by Bisimoto

When it comes to Super Fast Front Wheel Drive cars and breaking the quater mile record single handed-ly with small engines, Bisimoto Engineering is a legend. Wringing unbelievable herds of horses from pint-sized engines, the Bisimoto team continues its magic, producing 600 plus ponies from of a 1.8-liter Hyundai Elantra GT for SEMA.

Based on the 1.8-liter "NU"-family Hyundai engine, but with Bisimoto's connecting rods, injectors, camshafts, and turbo kit, plus Arias forged pistons, an AEM series 2 EMS controlling it all, an upgraded Spearco intercooler, an AEM water-methanol kit, and 100 octane fuel powering it all.

Other mods include racing seats and harnesses, a Progress coilover suspension and anti-roll bar kit, an upgraded clutch, 18x8.5-inch Buddy Club wheels, a roll cage,  and of course a custom body wrap, which you can see in the rendering above. For the full mods list, see below :

Powertrain Modifications
·         Bisimoto-built 1.8L “NU” familyHyundai engine
·         Bisimoto steel rods, turbo kit, intake gasket, injectors, and web level 2.4 camshafts
·         Arias forged pistons
·         AEM Series 2 EMS, and smart IGBT coils
·         MSD coil wires
·         NGK Iridium spark plugs
·         PurOl Oils
·         Bisimoto/Turbonetics BTX6462 turbocharger, blow-off, wastegate
·         Spearco intercooler
·         Golden Eagle sleeved block, and intake manifold
·         Griffin Radiator
·         Supertech valvetrain
·         Vibrant Vanjen clamps and stainless hardware
·         AEM water-methanol kit
·         AEM 320lph fuel pump
·         ARP head, main, and wheel studs
·         Portflow custom headwork
·         VP Streetblaze 100 fuel
·         Kinsler fuel filters
 
Chassis/Suspension Modifications
·         JNF roll cage
·         Progress coilover suspension and sway bar
·         Buddy Club P1 Racing SF Challenge Wheels, 18x8.5
·         Bisimoto-spec Action 2MS Clutch
 
Exterior Modifications
·         Gatorwrap custom laminated body wrap
·         Type 2 graphics
·         ARK body kit
·         Denmatic design scheme
·         Bisimoto Extreme Dimensions hood and aero upgrades
·         Burns Stainless muffler and hardware
 
Interior Modifications
·         Bisimoto racing seats and harness
·         Bisimoto reservoir socks
·         Racepack IQ3 dash
·         AEM wideband failsafe module
·         Odyssey ER-25MJ dry cell battery
·         Rywire mil-spec harness
·         G&J braided lines

This car will be available for public viewing at the SEMA show next week...

Acura NSX Concept to be Unveiled

Approximately 1 year ago Acura unveiled its NSX concept car as a V6 hybrid. The word is that it will have the same specs for the production car debuting at the same show. 

It’s right on time if not a little early given that Acura projected to be selling its car three years after the concept’s debut. Bringing the production car to Detroit this year will give the company plenty of time to ready the Ohio plant it plans to use for production, and that’s what the brand plans to do according to AutoExpress.

Official information on the car is still sparse, but it will come with a hybrid drivetrain using Acura’s Super Handling-All Wheel Drive system to make an expected 400 hp.

In production form the car will also have the same styling as its the brand’s concept car.

An Acura official wasn’t available to confirm or deny that the car will be at the show, but the story will be updated to reflect that response once it’s given.

Possum Bourne Motorsport's Subaru BRZ

Possum Bourne Motorsport (PBMS) is a well known tuner from New Zealand. They revealed a track-biased Subaru BRZ racer. The PBMS Subaru BRZ was developed for people that loves a very strong track workout.
The total offering features three packages for the BRZ. 

Stage 1 includes a performance fuel system, a rollcage, Recaro sport bucket seats, Sabelt six-point harnesses and a series carbon fiber body parts. A Cusco adjustable coilover suspension, AP brakes with an STI handbrake, and Recaro winged-HANS seats are also on the option list.

Stage 2 package offers an electrical kit, which includes wiring, circuit breakers and a lightweight battery. The PBMS BRZ rides on Enkei 18×8.0 inch alloys and Pirelli P-Zero Trofeo R motorsport tires. The final stage includes engine and gearbox enhancements. Exact information and pricing of these modifications have not been released.

Mercedes-Benz recalls 2012 E Class

Mercedes-Benz has issued a recall for its 2012 E-Class Coupe due to a potential fault with its airbag. The recall will effect E350 and E550 coupe models manufactured from April 2nd, 2012 to June 29th, 2012.

In total, 499 vehicles in the US are affected by the recall, which is due to an improper stitching of the window curtain airbag on the passenger side. The improper stitching can cause the airbag to not deploy as intended. Essentially the airbag could deflate more quickly than intended, reducing the protection it offers in the situation of an accident.

Owners of the affected E-Class coupes will be notified by the German automaker soon. They will be able to take their vehicles to a local dealership and have the faulty airbag replaced for free.

Ken Block smokes it at House of Drift Course

Apart from his considerable racing prowess, Block has made a huge name for himself through his insane Gymkhana video series, the most recent of which had him hooning through the hills of downtown San Francisco. This time, Block is smoking all four tires on his Fiesta race car while driving sideways around the infamous House of Drift course.

True to form, he flings the car around corners with what looks like a couple of inches to spare from the wall. Motor sports gets better when Mr. Block get involved. 

Camshafts and High Camshafts explanation

If cylinder heads and blocks are the heart of an engine, then the camshaft and valve train have to be the brains of the operation apart from the ECU that is. Exact timing of the opening, closing, lift, and duration of each valve is essential to increase the power and torque of engines.

A valve train would consists of valves and a mechanism which opens and closes them. The opening and closing system is called a camshaft. The camshaft uses lobes (cams) that push against the valves to open them as the camshaft rotates, the springs on the valves then will return them to their closed position. This is a critical job, and can have a great impact on an engine's performance at different speeds.

The key parts of any camshaft are the lobes. As the camshaft spins, the lobes open and close the intake and exhaust valves in time with the motion of the piston. It turns out that there is a direct relationship between the shape of the cam lobes and the way the engine performs in different speed ranges. 

When you increase the RPM, the 10 to 20 RPM configuration for the camshaft will not work very well. Just say if the engine is running at 4,000 RPM, the valves are opening and closing 2,000 times every minute, or 33 times every second. At these speeds, the piston is moving very quickly, so the air and fuel mixture rushing into the cylinder will also be moving at a very quick rate.
When the piston starts its intake stroke and the intake valve opens, the air/fuel mixture in the intake runner starts to accelerate into the cylinder. By the time the piston reaches the bottom of its intake stroke, the air/fuel mixture is moving at a pretty high speed. If you were to slam the intake valve shut, all of that air/fuel mixture would come to a halt and will not enter the cylinder. By leaving the intake valve open a little longer, the momentum of the fast-moving air/fuel mixture continues to force air and fuel into the cylinder as the compression stroke is started by the piston. In theory the faster the engine goes, the faster the air/fuel mixture flows and the longer we would want the intake valve to stay open. We would also want the valve to open wider at higher speeds. Also affecting the cams performance is lift, the duration, overlap and timing.

Lift
Lift refers to maximum valve lift. This is how much the valve is "lifted" off its seat at the cam lobe's highest point. The intake and exhaust valves need to be open to let air/fuel in and exhaust out of the cylinders. Generally, opening the valves quicker and further will increase engine output. Increasing valve lift, without increasing duration, can yield more power without much change to the nature of the power curve. However, an increase in valve lift almost always is accompanied by an increase in duration. This is because ramps are limited in their shape which is directly related to the type of lifters being used, such as flat or roller.

Duration
Duration is the angle in crankshaft degrees that the valve stays off its seat during the lifting cycle of the cam lobe. Increasing duration keeps the valve open longer, and can increase high-rpm power. Doing so increases the RPM range that the engine produces power. By increasing duration without a change in lobe separation angle will result in increased valve overlap.

Overlap
Overlap is the angle in crankshaft degrees that both the intake and exhaust valves are open. This occurs at the end of the exhaust stroke and the beginning of the intake stroke. Increasing lift duration and/or decreasing lobe separation increases overlap. At high engine speeds, overlap allows the rush of exhaust gasses out the exhaust valve to help pull the fresh air/fuel mixture into the cylinder through the intake valve. Increased engine speed enhances the effect. Therefore increasing overlap, increases top-end power and reduces low-speed power and idle quality.

Vettel leads the F1 driver's Standings

Fernando Alonso was left a dissapointed figure after the Korean GP as he finally lost his long-standing championship lead to his rival Sebastien Vettel. To rub salt into Fernando's wounds, it was his title rival Sebastian Vettel's third consecutive grand prix victory on Sunday (Singapore, Japan adn Korea).
Red Bull's German, who finished 8 seconds ahead of his teammate and pole sitter Mark Webber, is now 6 points ahead of Spaniard Alonso with just four races still to run. Sebastien Vettel led from the pole position to clinch his third consecutive win with team mate Mark Webber coming in second to make it a Red Bull one and two.

Given the new dominance of the RB8 car - whose designer Adrian Newey collected the constructors' trophy on Sunday's podium - Vettel must now be considered the favourite to secure a third consecutive drivers' title next month. "At the moment Red Bull are difficult to beat," Alonso, who finished third ahead of his resurgent teammate Felipe Massa, admitted to podium interviewer Johnny Herbert.
Vettel said: "I'm looking forward to the next couple of races."

Hamilton has learned his Twitter lessons

Lewis Hamilton said he would handle social media with care after causing a Twitter flap earlier in the week with a message accusing McLaren team mate Jenson Button of disrespect by 'unfollowing' him.

The 2008 Formula One world champion has been an enthusiastic user of the medium, acquiring some 1.2 million followers. Some of his more trigger-happy 'Tweets' have generated plenty of news coverage for all the wrong reasons, however.

In Belgium last month, Hamilton raised eyebrows with crude language and then sent out confidential team technical data hours before the race. Button said at the time he was 'disappointed'.

The morning after last Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, he accused Button of having snubbed him before retracting his comment once it emerged the older Briton had never followed him in the first place.

The messages triggered plenty of media debate, much of it analysing Hamilton's state of mind and maturity as he prepares for a move from McLaren - the only team he has ever driven for in F1 - to Mercedes next season.

"I just have to put my hands up and say I made a mistake. Sometimes we do that in the heat of the moment and you don't actually mean what you say, but there is nothing I can do. I apologised and that is it, we move forward," he told reporters when asked about the latest incident.

"Perhaps me and Twitter don't go together too well," continued the 27-year-old ahead of Sunday's Korean Grand Prix.

"I like it because I like to be able to share the great experiences I have with the fans but it is a fine line. Lots of people get it wrong and I am one of those and I will hopefully try to improve on that."

Hamilton said he had not been able to contact Button directly by telephone on the Monday because his team mate had a late night after finishing fourth in the race at Suzuka. They had spoken again in Korea on Wednesday.

"I obviously wasn't in the right frame of mind, but that's it. Hopefully I won't do it again," added the Briton, who has not tweeted any messages since apologising to Button on Monday.

Button, somewhat bemused to be talking about a 140 character message format rather than his car or Sunday's grand prix, said he did not follow his team mate because he saw him at every race weekend.

"The fun thing about Twitter is you don't always follow the same people, you can mix and match, follow and unfollow," he explained.

The 2009 champion does follow Mexican Sergio Perez, who joins McLaren next season in place of Hamilton. Button said he had done so to welcome him to the team but could not now 'unfollow' him.

"I'm not allowed to do anything on Twitter these days. I'm stuck. I can't unfollow anyone anymore," he said.

2014 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series Prototype Crashes And Burns

One of the upcoming SLS AMG Black Series model from Mercedes-Benz recently being spotted conducting some high-speed tests on Germany’s Nürburgring race track. Unfortunately, it appears that the prototype has now crashed on the ‘Ring and caught fire.

The good news is that the driver and passenger managed to walk away from the crash, long before the flames took over the wreckage.

The crash took place at the Döttinger Höhe section of the Nürburgring, a long straight that stretches close to 1.5 miles and where it’s common for AMG models to clock speeds of close to 186 mph.

With the fire having destroyed most of the car, we can see that AMG engineers are sticking with the SLS AMG’s aluminum structure rather than adopting the carbon fiber monocoque of the SLS AMG Electric Drive. Not much else can be gathered from these latest shots, but previous spy shots have revealed pumped fenders, an integrated diffuser and plenty of carbon fiber.

It’s expected that the new SLS AMG Black Series will have a more powerful engine than the 583-horsepower SLS AMG GT. Combined with this should be a lighter overall curb weight and retuned suspension, guaranteeing the Black Series will be the most capable model in the Mercedes-Benz fleet.

We don't know yet exactly when the SLS AMG Black Series will enter production, but we will likely have to wait until sometime in 2013 for the official unveiling, which means the car is likely to arrive in showrooms as a 2014 model.

Toyota had some warning of recall issues four years ago

Toyota Motor Co may have known about the problem behind the company's recent recall of 7.43 million vehicles. The recall covers faulty window switches that may get stuck or catch fire if improperly lubricated. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received its first complaint about the faulty switch issue some four years ago, which singled out American supplier, Tram Inc., and its Japanese parent company, Tokai Rika Co., as being the one to blame for the trouble. The faulty switches in question were described as emitting a strange odour and were sent back to the supplier for analysis. Tokai Rika couldn't discern a cause for the failure.

Toyota Motor Co dropped the case in that instance, but continued to monitor the switches. Similar reports flared up once again in 2010, this time with the components actually smoking, and Toyota launched a full-fledged internal investigation that eventually led to the recent recall. The campaign covers nearly 2.5 million vehicles in the US alone.

Toyota re-calls 7.43 million vehicles

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Asia’s biggest carmaker, said it began a recall affecting about 7.43 million vehicles worldwide to replace defects in power-window switches.

About 2.47 million vehicles are affected in the U.S., 1.4 million in China, 1.39 million in Europe and 460,000 in Japan, Joichi Tachikawa, a Tokyo-based spokesman, said by phone today. The recall involves 14 models and no accidents have been reported because of the issue, he said.
 The recall is the company’s largest since the carmaker recalled more than 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2009 and 2010 for defects associated with unintended acceleration.

The recall is the company’s largest since the carmaker recalled more than 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2009 and 2010 for defects associated with unintended acceleration.
“The volume is big, and doesn’t look good,” Satoru Takada, a Tokyo-based auto analyst at Toward the Infinite World Inc., a securities research company, said by telephone today. “Even if you calculate the cost in a very simple way, it’s going to be significant. What comes with standardizing platforms and parts is that these recalls become immense.”
Toyota shares fell 2.3 percent to 2,932 yen as of 2:47 p.m. in Tokyo, headed for the lowest close since July 26.

The recall involves about 490,000 vehicles in the Middle East and about 650,000 in Asia, excluding Japan and China, Tachikawa said.

NASCAR Epic Crash: 25 Cars pile up and a flip over

Good Lord. Fortunate for all of the drivers involved to escape without any major injury. 

Nissan GTR 35 demolished

Four young lives were lost when two sports cars were totally demolished after they skidded and hit two trees.

The crashes involving two Nissan GTR 35 cars occurred at about 4am, it was said that both of the drivers were speeding along the Jalan Haji Ahmad Satu stretch here when the road was wet after a heavy downfall.

The driver of the first car was identified as Tan Kah Yong, 34, a businessman from Klang while a woman from China, Bao Shanshan, 27, was his front passenger. Firemen had to extricate their bodies from the badly-mangled vehicle.

Relatives of the deceased inspecting one of the damaged cars at the traffic police station in Kuantan. Two other women passengers, Wei Litong and Zhang Hongmei, also from China, have been warded at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital with serious injuries. All three women apparently worked at a karaoke outlet here.

Also killed were the driver of the second car, businessman Go Haw Wei, 20, from Alor Akar, and car salesman Koay Khor Liang, 21, from Bukit Sekilau. Go died immediately on the scene while Koay succumbed to his injuries with his elder brother by his side moments after being brought to the hospital.

Firemen had earlier taken 40 minutes to extricate Koay from the wreck. Visibly shaken and traumatised, he stuttered: “I saw him ... barely able to talk and in great pain.

“I knew then that he might not make it. But I had to put on a brave front as I tried to assure him that everything was going to be all right when the firemen were cutting him free.”

It is learnt that Go runs a family-owned business and had just bought his car about two weeks ago.

Proton Preve R3 makes its debut

The highly anticipated Proton Preve R3 makes its maiden debut at the Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 held in the Sepang International Circuit during the weekend. It was a rumour that spread around almost 3 months ago that R3 is prepping Proton's latest addition, the Proton Preve as a race car. The Proton Preve being used ad the track car however, is not the top of the line CFE engine range. This Proton Preve R3 is the CAMPRO IAFM engine that has been used it its previous Proton Satria Neo R3.

Vettel takes Japan GP 2012 to close gap in Alonso

It was a major turning point in the 2012 Formula 1 season as Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel closes the gap on championship standings leader, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

With Fernando Alonso crashing out on the first lap at Suzuka, the Red Bull driver finds himself just four points behind the Spaniard with another five races left in the season.

Although delighted with the result, Vettel is quick to point out that it has been a "crazy" season and anything can still happen.

"It was an important step today [in the Championship] but there is still a long way to go," he said.

"Look at the last couple of races and since Spa - it's been very much up and down. We don't know what will happen in the next race but let's try and take the points. It's been a long season with crazy racing."

The German's cause in Japan was no doubt helped by Kimi Raikkonen after a nudge from the Lotus driver resulted in a puncture and DNF for Alonso.

Vettel, though, says he only realised halfway through the race that his main rival for the title was taken out on the first lap.

"I saw the Safety Car at the beginning but I had a very good start and that was very important," he said.

"I knew behind me there was a crash and I saw a Ferrari was out but wasn't sure which. Halfway through I was looking to see the others and I saw their [Ferrari] car still racing Felipe, I didn't know what happened to Fernando."

Vettel and Red Bull were certainly in a class of their own at Suzuka as he not only started on the pole, but he also finished 20.6seconds ahead of second-placed man Felipe Massa.

"Thank you. The atmosphere has been unbelievable all weekend. There has been so much support, the stands have been full and that really makes our job feel very special," he said.

"Thanks to the team, all the guys pushed so hard. When you're dreaming at night, you dream one day about racing a car like that. The balance was so good and that's why there was a gap to behind. I'm very happy."

Sebastien Loeb is now 9 times FIA WRC Champion

Sebastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena clinches their ninth World Rally Championship Crown Loeb's hometown of Haguenau, the pairing celebrated victory by 15.5s ahead of factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala.

“It’s incredible,” said Loeb, whose title was the 20th drivers’ crown scored by tyre firm Michelin. “We were dreaming about this moment at the start of the rally having lived this two years ago. Now we are here again with the victory and the championship in front of all these wonderful people. It’s not possible to get better than this, it was a dream all weekend in front of all these fans. We couldn’t believe the atmosphere two years ago, it was amazing then and it’s amazing now.”

Heavy rain affected the morning loop of three stages, and mud and damp sections a constant menace in the afternoon, Loeb, Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen - in the second factory Citroen and the only driver capable of denying Loeb the title - drove with caution throughout the day to finish in that order, a result that thrilled Latvala.

“To be honest it is my best Tarmac result,” said Latvala. “I have never ever been so close to Sebastien Loeb on a Tarmac rally if you think about the overall gap so I need to be happy.”

Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuvile was less circumspect than the leading trio, claiming a total of five stage wins as he climbed from sixth to fourth in impressive fashion, demoting Mads Ostberg and Dani Sordo in the process.

Adapta Fiesta pilot Ostberg took fifth - his best result on asphalt - but Sordo dropped out after a heavy impact on the sump guard of his MINI John Cooper Works WRC on stage 18 bent the engine mounting and moved the power steering pump, resulting in a lost of power steering fluid and failure on the Haguenau street stage.

Ott Tanak won the Power Stage in a strong sixth overall. M-Sport Fiesta team-mate Evgeny Novikov lost almost three minutes on stage 18 when he rolled into a field and suffered considerable delay trying to regain the road. Miraculously, Novikov’s car suffered cosmetic damage only and he was able to finish seventh.

Chris Atkinson finished eighth for WRC Team MINI Portugal with Martin Prokop ninth and Sebastien Chardonnet an impressive 10th on his first run in a DS3 WRC in the world championship.

Sebastien Ogier beat team-mate and fellow Skoda Fabia Super 2000 driver Andreas Mikkelsen to 11th overall in the battle to be top Volkswagen Motorsport driver. Multiple World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller was 14th after going fourth quickest on stage 18. Former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Romain Dumas finished 16th in a similar MINI.

Brazil World Rally Team’s Daniel Oliveira went off the road on stage 18, while countryman Paulo Nobre failed to complete stage 21. Petter Solberg restarted under Rally 2 rules following his crash on day two but finished outside of the top 20 in his works Ford. However, there was no restart for Qatar World Rally Team’s Nasser Al-Attiyah after he also went off the road on Saturday.Sebastian

Honda Motor U.S recalls CR-V models

Honda Motor Co.(U.S) said Saturday it is recalling 268,000 CR-V SUVs models over what is said to be a fire risks. The latest in a string of recalls from the Japanese carmaker.

Honda Motor Co said it is recalling the 2002-2006 CR-V models because of the driver-side power window switch may fail or melt. The switch could overheat, smoke and probably cause a fire.

The carmaker told owners to park their vehicles outside their garages until the repairs are completed because a switch failure, and a fire, could occur even if the vehicle is not in use.

Honda said it had reports of four fires from owners — including two in July and August, which helped prompt the recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the issue since November 2010 and upgraded the investigation in April 2011 after 29 reports of complaints of problems with the switch, including five reports of fire or smoke.

Honda said in a statement Saturday that its dealers will inspect and repair or replace the power window master switch. Honda said no crashes or injuries have been reported related to this issue.

Under severe conditions, water or other fluids may enter through an open driver's window and reach the master power window switch on the door, Honda said. Over time, exposure to water or fluid can cause the switch to overheat and melt, damaging the switch and potentially damaging an associated wire harness.

Earlier this week, Honda said it was boosting a massive recall of vehicles for low-beam headlights that can fail by another 820,789.

In total, Honda has recalled more than 1.8 million vehicles since 2004 over the issue — with reports of more than 400 failures.

This is Honda's third recall for headlight problems since 2004. The first recall covered 440,000 2001-2002 Civic and 2000-2002 Insight vehicles.

Honda also said this week it was expanding an earlier recall to include another 572,000 2003-07 Accord cars because the power steering hose may fail and leak fluid. The initial recall in May covered 52,615 2007-08 Acura TL sedans.

Ferrari 458 Italia eat E30's dust

Damm...really makes me wonder what is under the hood of that E30? Car was really unstable when turbo kicks in. Crazy

Japanese GP 2012 Qualifying Results

Pos No Driver                 Team 1 1 Sebastian Vettel  Red Bull Racing-Renault   2 2 Mark Webber          Red Bull Racing-Renault 3 3 Jenson Button          McLaren-Mercedes 4 14 Kamui Kobayashi  Sauber-Ferrari 5 10 Romain Grosjean  Lotus-Renault 6 15 Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari 7 5 Fernando Alonso  Ferrari 8 9 Kimi Räikkönen          Lotus-Renault 9 4 Lewis Hamilton          McLaren-Mercedes 10 12 Nico Hulkenberg  Force India-Mercedes 11 6 Felipe Massa          Ferrari 12 11 Paul di Resta          Force India-Mercedes 13 7 Michael Schumacher  Mercedes 14 18 Pastor Maldonado  Williams-Renault 15 8 Nico Rosberg          Mercedes 16 16 Daniel Ricciardo  STR-Ferrari 17 17 Jean-Eric Vergne  STR-Ferrari 18 19 Bruno Senna          Williams-Renault 19 20 Heikki Kovalainen  Caterham-Renault 20 24 Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth 21 22 Pedro de la Rosa  HRT-Cosworth 22 25 Charles Pic          Marussia-Cosworth 23 21 Vitaly Petrov          Caterham-Renault 24 23 Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth